Control circuits for accounting machines



7, 1941. L, KEEFE 2,227,755

CONTROL CIRCUITS FOR ACCOUNTING MACHINES Filed Nov. 8, 1937 {\FIH Dli2 p -3 DU-7 I! 024 LIST 0- 175-] o 000 o ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 000000000 0 $000000000000OOOOOOOOOOOOOOQOOOOOOOO 9 7,9 0 0000000000O0000000000000000000000000 6 e 000000000 ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 2 Mm .DL' 4.; .fo 5: 7o 73- e e 4 ooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooo 3 mm! as H11; O0O00*0000OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 000000 .9 0O00000000000000000000000000000000000000 4- 119141. 3917 11: 000000000 oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo p DL'Z? Auresranz' s333s3333l313 3311313311113 lllllllllll DU W INVENTOR LincolnMKeef ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 7, 1941 UNITED STATES 2.227.755 comraor. cmourgs FOR ACCOUNTING HINES Lincoln M. Keefe, Springfield, Mass assignor to Remington Rand Inc., Buffalo, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application November 8, 1937. Serial No. 173,334

1 Claim. (cl. ass-61.6)

This invention relates to improvements in control circuits for accounting machines, and has for an object the provision in an accounting machine of a source of impulses of known timing and utilizing relay means in connection with the se. "3 means of the machine, to effect control of said machine upon the appearance of a certain perforation in a predetermined column of the record.

Another object of the invention is the provision in an accounting machine of relay means energized due to a perforation in a predetermined position in a given column of the record to effect the control and to deliver a substitute impulse, having a value other than the value of said predetermined perforation, to an accumulator in said machine.

A further object of the invention is the provi sion, in an accounting machine, of a source of impulses of known timing, and relay means including contact arms normally in contact and connected to deliver a certain known impulse to machine-control means during each record cycle to cause said machine to continue running and feeding records, and having the actuating winding of said relay connected to the sensing means reading a predetermined column in the record. and also connected to receive a known impulse of a predetermined value whereby a total-taking op-' eration will be instituted each time a perforation appears in said column of the record having a value of said last predetermined known impulse. when this occurs, the contact between the arms is interrupted due to the energization of said actuating winding and the machine control means is deprived of said known impulses, and a total-taking operation is instituted.

Still another object of the invention is the provision in a tabulating machine having a sensing means comprised of upper and lower brushesand relay means including a'magnet winding having one end thereof connected to an upper brush and the other end to a lower brush.

Other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Referring to the drawing- Figure 1 is a schematic representation of the plug-board of a tabulating machine showing relays interconnected therewith, by way of example, to show an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view of a record capable of instituting impulses of known timing as well as impulses of unknown timing; and

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the internal circuits of a tabulating machine of the Holerith or electrical type, such as that shown in Patent No. 1,775,132, capable of being controlled by the present invention.

Figure 3 which is a schematic representation of the wiring diagram of Patent No. 1,775,132,

will first be described in order that the internal circuits of the achine to be controlled may be understood. circuit is the same as that shown in Figure 14 of application Serial Number 554,191, filed July 31, 1931, now United States Letters Patent No. 2,098,248, dated Nov. 9, 1937, of which the present application is a continuation in part.

The cards 200 are fed by a suitable card feed I81 into a sensing means which consists of an upper row of brushes I89 which contact with a roller I 98, and a lower row of brushes I9I which contact with another roller I90. The roller I88 is connected to one side of the source of current, the positive side, as illustrated in Figure 3; and the lower roller I 90 is connected to the other side of the source, the negative side, as illustrated in Figure 3.

When the records pass between the row of brushes I89 and .the roller I88, no contact is made except at points where holes have been punched in the cards with a timing in accordance with the Index positions in which the punched holes occur. After .passing the upper brushes, the cards then pass between the lower brushes I9I and their associated roller I90. The upper brushes I89 each terminate in a jack at the plugboard, and these jacks are designated by the letters DU; for example, DU is the upper brush reading column 1 in the record, and DU would be the upper brush reading the column in the record, etc.

The lower brushes I9I each terminate in jacks in the plug-board designated by the letters DL, and DL followed by the number of the brush would represent a lower brush reading the column of whatever the number is. The lower brush jacks DL are arranged in groups of three, common to each brush so that more than one connection may easily be made to any lower brush jack. The cards leaving the lower brushes of the sensing means are formed in a stack ZIII by the machine.

The tabulating machine also has a series of accumulators and printing devices associated therewith. These instrumentalities are shown diagrammatically in Figure 3 and designated generally by the numeral I99, Each order of each accumulator terminates in a jack in the plug-board which is identified by the letter E.

The group control magnets for effecting control of the accumulating and total-taking cycles of the machine, shown diagrammatically at I92, terminate in two rows of jacks in the plug-board I00 and are'designated by the letters FU and FL. The FU jacks are adapted to be connected to the upper brush jacks DU, and the FL jacks are adapted to be connected to the lower brush jacks DL;-for a given control to function, its jacks FU and FL must be connected respectively to an upper brush jack and to a lower brush jack in order to complete the electrical circuit therethrough.

A plurality of shunt Jacks FS form the terminals for series of contact arms I. These contact arms are actuated by the control magnets I92, and are re-set by cams (not shown). These jacks are adapted/to be plugged with a major control shunt 3 3," or a minor control shunt 84: One of theiontact arms I94 (usually the end one) is connected to instrumentallties in the machine which cause the machine to continue to rim and feed cards, or to stop and take totals, print, etc. These 'instrumentalities are not shown in detail, but are indicated generally by the numeral I95, and are connected via the wire 202 to the negative side of the source of current, via the wire 203 to the tabulating motor ISI and via the wire 204 to the printing or reset motor I90. Some of them are also connected to a shunt contact IN. V

It was stated above that the machine control Jacks FU must be connected to upper brushes, and Jacks FL must be connected to lower brushes. This does not mean necessarily that they must be directly connected, but the connection between either a FL jack and a DL brush Jack might contain one or more series of contact arms associated with relays, so that a relay might interrupt the circuit and cause a total-taking operation to be instituted. The accumulators are usually connected to lower brush jacks because the impulses from the upper brush jacks are of the wrong polarity to operate an accumulator. In carrying out the present invention, one phase of which contemplates the counting of the number of records in which perforations of a given index value appear in a predetermined column in the record, I utilize the impulse from said column of the record in which a perforation of the wanted index' value appears, and known impulse either from a perforation appearing in a known position in every record or from an emitter, of the same value to actuate a relay, and the relay contacts complete a circuit which will deliver a known impulse having a value of 1 to the accumulator, therefore the accumulator will add 1 each time one of the required records is sensed at the lower brushes.

The records, such as illustrated in Figure 2,

may have the perforations shown incolunms 2 to 11, inclusive, in every record, in which case, when the records are fed through the machine, a series of "known" impulses (impulses of known timing) is available from the upper brushes sensing columns 2 to 11, inclusive, and likewise, a series of known" impulses is available from the lower brushes sensing-columns 2 to 11, inclusive.

The other columns in the record may have data" perforations in the various columns 12 to 80, inclusive, in accordance with the information recorded therein.

Referring now to Figure 1, the plug-board I00 of the tabulating machine is provided with two rows of jacks DU forming terminals for the upper brushes I89, shown in Figure 3. These jacks are arranged in two rows of forty jacks making a total of eighty.

Alongside of each row of upper brush Jacks is a triple row of lower brush jacks DL forming terminals of the lower brushes I9I, shown in Figure 3. Three DL jacks are connected to each brush, thereby making a total of 240 lower brush jacks.

Below the brush jacks DU and BL is a row of accumulator jacks E. These are indicated as associated in banks with the accumulators (5 banks being shown) counting from left to right,

however the jacks in each bank are counted from right to leftthe lowest order in each bank being on its right.

The plug-board I00 has a row of ten jacks FU 5 and a row of ten Jacks FL by means of which connections may be made to effect total taking. A row ofshunt Jacks FS is also provided and the plugs on the shunt connection which are associated with the group control mechanism which 10 keeps the machine running and feeding records, may be plugged into any desired Jack F8,

The L iacksdo not of themselves connect to any internal circuits in the machine; They are connected together and may .be termed bus 15 jacks.

Relays such as those described in the aforesaid application may be used. They may consist of an'actuating coil IOI having terminals I02 and I03, an armature I04 for permitting the switch 20 arm I05 to move in one direction (to the right as viewed in Figure 1), and a reset coil I00 having terminals I01 and I08 for moving the switch arm I05 to the left so that it may again be engaged by the armature I04 to re-set the relay. A spring I09 urges the armature I04 towards the switch arm I05, and a spring I I0 urges the switch arm I05 away from the re-set magnet I00.

The switch arm I05 carries a contact point which establishes contact with a contact point 30 carried by an arm II I when the re-set coil I00 is energized. The switch arm I05 also carries a contact point which establishes contact with a contact point carried by an arm II! when the actuating coil IOI is energized, due to the fact 35 that the armature I04 is attracted, permitting the switch arm I05 to move to the right breaking contact with the point on III and establishing contact with the point on I I2.

In describing the invention, it is assumed that 40 it is desired to count the number of records in which a perforation appears in the 7 index position in column 73 of the record.

In another phase of the invention, it is assumed that a total taking operation be instituted each time a perforation appears in the 5 index position in a given colunm oi the record. This may be, for example, in any column from 12 to 80, inclusive. However, for simplicity, let it be supposed that total taking shall be instituted each time a 5 perforation appears in column I3 in the record, and regardless of whether or not a 'I perforation appears in column '73 of the same record.

A relay R has its actuating coil terminal I02 connected to lower brush jack DL' thereby connecting to the lower brush reading column73 in the record, and its terminal I03 connected to upper brush jack DU. From the records, it can be seen that a perforation having a value of 7' appears in column 9 of every record. As the upper brush DU, via the '1 perforation in the record, contacts one side of the source of current and the lower brush reading column '13, via a '1 perforation in. the record, contacts the opposite side of the source, the actuating coil I0I of the 65 relay R will be energized each time a perforation appears in the 7 index position in column 73 of the records, and at no other time. When this coil is energized, the armature I 04 is attracted and the switch arm I05 establishes contact with the arm H2.

Now, in order to count the number of records having 7 perforations in column 73, it is only necessary to count the number of times I05 contacts the arm H2. This may be easily done by having the arms I05 and 2 arranged to deliver a known impulse having a value of 1 to an accumulator in the machine.

From the records, it is noted that a perforation having an index value of 1 appears in every record in column 3, therefore, the switch arm IDS is connected to a lower brush jack DH, and the arm H2 is connected to an accumulator jack E2-l (the first or lowest order in the second bank, for example).

With the connections described, a value of' 1 will be entered in the accumulator each time aperforation appears in the 7 index position of column 73, however, it is also necessary that the relay R be re-set for each record cycle.

This may be done when the 0, 11 or 12 positions are being sensed, so as to give the 1 impulses a chance to work. The re-set coil I06 of the relay R has its terminal I01 connected to lower brush jack DI and its terminal I08 connected to upper brush jack DU, so that a known impulse having a value of will energize the reset coil 16 during each record cycle.

For instituting a total taking operation each time a perforation appears in the index position in a given column in the records, for example column 73, although any other column 12 to 80 inclusive may be chosen, the relay R has its actuating coil terminal H12 connected to lower brush jack DL" and its terminal I03 connected to upper brush jack DU". From the records it is noted that the 7th column has a perforation in the 5 index position in every record, so that each time a perforation appears in the 5 position in column '13 of the records, the coil Nil 015 the relay R is energized.

The machine control is connected as follows: The major shunt connector 84 is connected to FS FU is connected to DU the switch arm "'15 is connected to DL and the arm Ill of the relay R. is connected toFL As the switch arm I5 is normally in contact with I l I, a known impulse having a value of 1 is delivered to a group control relay magnet I92 during each record cycle, until said normal contact is interrupted due to the energization of the actuating coil I III.

When the contact between arms I (hi and Ill is interrupted due to the energization oi. llil by a 5 impulse as abovedescribed, the machine control is deprived of an impulse, control breaks, and a total-taking operation is instituted.

The relay R. should be re-set after its actuating coil llil' operates. The simplest way of controlling the re-setting of this relay is to have its re-set coil I I16 energized during every record cycle, therefore the terminals I01 and I08" are connected to DI. and DU respectively, and a known impulse 01' 0 timing energizes the re-set coil I08 during each record cycle.

Although Figure 1 shows a relay having its actuating coil having one terminal connected to a lower brush jack reading a given column in the record, and the other terminal connected to an upper brush to receive a known" impulse of the same value as the wanted index point perforation in said given column, it is obvious that this connection may be reversed so that the terminal I02 could be connected to upper brush Jack DU and I03 to DI), the other connections of relay R being the same and the same result would obtain.

In my co-pending application Serial Number 672,557, filed May 24, 1933, now Patent No. 2,- 120,071 issued June 7,1938, I employ a series of interrupters which are, in efiect, emitters supplying a series of impulses of the same electrical sign as the impulses from the upper brushes, and a series of impulses of the same electrical sign as the impulses from the lower brushes. These impulses are brought out to jacks in the plug,- board.

In using the present invention with a tabulating machine having emitters and extra jacks in the plug-board, it is not necessary to punch holes in all the records for producing the known impulses, thereby such columns may be free for other uses, and the connections to jacks of brushes reading columns 1 to 11, inclusive, would be made to. corresponding jacks associated with the interrupters or emitters.

The jacks in the plug-board from which the known impulses may be obtained are shown in said co-pending application in the drawing and designated as J and K. In said application, the impulses from the J jacks are of the same polarity as those from the upper brushes DU, and the impulses from the K jacks are of the same polarity as those from the lower brushes DL. It is obvious that the DU", DU DU and DU connections described could as well be made to J jacks of corresponding timing, and the DIP, DL connections could be made to K jacks of corresponding timing and the same results would be obtained.

The embodiments herein shown and described are illustrative of convenient means for carrying out the invention, and the, scope of the invention is limited only by the appended claim.

The expression upper and lower brushes does not necessarily mean that one set of brushes must be above the other; but instead, upper brushes may be taken to mean the first set of brushes encountered by the records, and lower brushes" should be taken to mean the second set of brushes encountered by the records.

What is claimed is:

In a machine controlled by records in which perforations in onefield have position values of nine" to one only and in which perforations in a second field appear in the same known posi-- tions in every record, an accumulator order adapted to receive entries under control of per- Iorations in said first-mentioned field, sensing means comprised of upper and lower brushes of opposite electrical signs, the brushes reading said second field comprising sources of known impulses, an electromagnet, a connection between one terminal of the winding of said electromagnet and a brush reading a specific column in said first field, a connection between the other terminal of said winding and a brush of the opposite sign reading the column of the record in said second field in which a perforation has the same index position value as that of a specific index point selected for control in said first field, whereby said winding will be energized only when a perforation appears in said first field in the specific column and index position selected, switching means controlled by said electromagnet and a circuit including said switching means and said accumulator order.

LINCOLN M. KEEFE. 

